Public is moving away from Bush on illegal immigration

June 7, 2006

Another poll shows that the harder President Bush pushes for an amnesty bill, which he calls a ‘guest-worker program,’ the more voters move in the opposite direction – toward less immigration and more security.

About half of those surveyed in the new poll said the immigration problem facing the U.S. is 'too much immigration,' while just 29 percent identified the problem as 'not enough assimilation.'

MWR Strategies which conducted the poll of 1,000 registered voters, said it shows that Bush is moving in the wrong direction by embracing a path to citizenship.

When asked the best way to address immigration, 36 percent said penalize businesses for hiring illegal aliens, while 35 percent said create a path to citizenship and 17 percent said build a wall.

The Bush administration has been trying to convince skeptical Republicans in Congress that voters prefer a comprehensive solution to immigration and back Bush, who yesterday said a consensus is building in Congress for the major elements of his immigration proposal, including a path to citizenship.

'The questions themselves are clearly skewed, don't come to the heart of the issue in any important kind of way and are clearly biased in favor of one side,' he said. 'The weight of the numbers and the weight of the evidence suggests that people's main concern is border security and they view most of these proposals as amnesty.'

'What is clear from this poll is that a work-and-return program, a bill that has not passed the Senate, can receive significant support,' said Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who supports a temporary program but opposes a path to citizenship. 'That's the third way in this whole debate.'

Those who support a path to citizenship have made some headway in public opinion on how voters see the people who are the subject of the debate.